776

17
Linear and Loop Antennas

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

The Hertzian dipole, uniform line element, and small linear dipole examples do not
satisfy Eq. (17.1.2), except when the antenna length is electrically short, that is, l  .
For loop antennas, we may take the loop to lie on the xy-plane and be centered at the
origin. Again, we may assume a thin wire. For a circular loop of radius a, the current
ows azimuthally. The corresponding current density can be expressed in cylindrical
coordinates r = (, , z) as:

I( a)(z)
J(r)=

17.1 Linear Antennas

The radiation angular pattern of antennas is completely determined by the transverse
F +
F of the radiation vector F, which in turn is determined by
component F =
the current density J. Here, we consider some examples of current densities describing
various antenna types, such as linear antennas, loop antennas, and linear arrays.
For linear antennas, we may choose the z-axis to be along the direction of the antenna. Assuming an innitely thin antenna, the current density will have the form:

(circular loop)

(17.1.3)

The delta functions conne the current on the = a circle on the xy-plane. We will
discuss loop antennas in Sec. 17.8.
Antenna arrays may be formed by considering a group of antenna elements, such as
Hertzian or half-wave dipoles, arranged in particular geometrical congurations, such
as along a particular direction. Some examples of antenna arrays that are made up from
identical antenna elements are as follows:
J(r) =
z

an I(z)(x xn )(y)

array along x-direction

an I(z)(y yn )(x)

array along y-direction

an I(z zn )(x)(y)

array along z-direction

amn I(z)(x xm )(y yn )

2D planar array

J(r) =
z


n

z
J(r) =


n

z
J(r) =
J(r)=
z I(z)(x)(y)

(thin linear antenna)

(17.1.1)

mn

The weights an , amn are chosen appropriately to achieve desired directivity properties for the array. We discuss arrays in Sec. 20.1.
It is evident now from Eq. (17.1.1) that the radiation vector F will have only a zcomponent. Indeed, we have from the denition Eq. (15.7.5):

where I(z) is the current distribution along the antenna element. It is shown in Sec. 22.4
that I(z) satises approximately the Helmholtz equation along the antenna:

d2 I(z)
+ k2 I(z)= 0
dz2

(17.1.2)

F=

Hertzian dipole
Uniform line element
Small linear dipole
Standing-wave antenna
Half-wave antenna (l = /2)
Traveling-wave antenna

where l is the length of the antenna element and the expressions are assumed to be valid
for l/2 z l/2, so that the antenna element straddles the xy-plane.

J(r )ej kr d3 r =
z

I(z )(x )(y )ej(kx x +ky y +kz z ) dx dy dz

The x and y integrations are done trivially, whereas the z integration extends over
the length l of the antenna. Thus,

 l/2

Some examples of current distributions I(z) are as follows:

I(z)= Il(z)
I(z)= I
I(z)= I(1 2|z|/l)


I(z)= I sin k(l/2 |z|)
I(z)= I cos(kz)
I(z)= Iejkz

F=
z Fz =
z

l/2

I(z )ejkz z dz

Using Eq. (15.8.3), the wave vector k can be resolved in cartesian components as:
k cos sin + y
k sin sin +
kx + y
ky +
k = k
r=x
zk cos = x
z kz
Thus,

kx = k cos sin
ky = k sin sin
kz = k cos

(17.1.4)

17.2. Hertzian Dipole

777

Fz ()=

l/2

jkz z

I(z )e

 l/2

dz =

l/2

jkz cos

I(z )e

dz

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

Its maximum occurs at = /2, that is, broadside to the antenna:

It follows that the radiation vector Fz will only depend on the polar angle :

 l/2

778

Umax =

(17.1.5)

k2
|Il|2
322

It follows that the normalized power gain will be:

Using Eq. (15.8.2) we may resolve
z into its spherical coordinates and identify the
radial and transverse components of the radiation vector:

g()=

sin )Fz ()=

Fz ()sin
F=
z Fz = (
r cos
r Fz ()cos
Thus, the transverse component of F will be have only a -component:
F ()=
Fz ()sin
F ()=
It follows that the electric and magnetic radiation elds (15.10.5) generated by a
linear antenna will have the form:

H =
jk
H=

Hertzian dipole gain

0o

45

0o

45o

45

45

(17.1.6)

ejkr
Fz ()sin
4r

0.5

90

135o

135o

(radiation intensity of linear antenna)

90o

90

6 3
dB

90o

135o

135o

180o

k2
|Fz ()|2 sin2
322

(17.2.1)

Gain in dB

The elds are omnidirectional, that is, independent of the azimuthal angle . The
factor sin arises from the cartesian to spherical coordinate transformation, whereas
the factor Fz () incorporates the dependence on the assumed current distribution I(z).
The radiation intensity U(, ) has -dependence only and is given by Eq. (16.1.4):

U()=

(Hertzian dipole gain)

The gain g() is plotted in absolute and dB units in Fig. 17.2.1. Note that the 3-dB
or half-power circle intersects the gain curve at 45o angles. Therefore, the half-power
beam width (HPBW) will be 90o not a very narrow beam. We note also that there is no
radiated power along the direction of the antenna element, that is, the z-direction, or
= 0.

jkr
E =
jk e
Fz ()sin
E=
4r

U()
= sin2
Umax

180o

(17.1.7)
Fig. 17.2.1 Gain of Hertzian dipole in absolute and dB units.

To summarize, the radiated elds, the total radiated power, and the angular distribution of radiation from a linear antenna are completely determined by the quantity
Fz () dened in Eq. (17.1.5).

In these plots, the gain was computed by the function dipole and plotted with abp
and dbp. For example the left gure was generated by:
[g, th, c] = dipole(0, 200);
abp(th, g, 45);

17.2 Hertzian Dipole

Next, we calculate the beam solid angle from:

The simplest linear antenna example is the Hertzian dipole that has a current distribution I(z)= Il(z) corresponding to an innitesimally small antenna located at the
origin. Eq. (17.1.5) yields:

 l/2
Fz ()=

l/2

I(z )ejkz z dz =

 l/2
l/2

Il(z )ejkz

cos


g() sin dd = 2


g() sin d = 2

dz = Il

Thus, Fz is a constant independent of . The radiation intensity is obtained from

Eq. (17.1.7):

k2
U()=
|Il|2 sin2
322

  2
=

8
3

It follows that the directivity will be:

Dmax =

4
4
= 1.5 1.76 dB
=

8/3

sin3 d ,
0

or,

17.3. Standing-Wave Antennas

779

8
k2
k2 |Il|2
|Il|2
=
2
32
3
12

h
(17.2.2)

Because of the proportionality to |I|2 , we are led to dene the radiation resistance
of the antenna, Rrad , as the resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power
as the power radiated, that is, we dene it through:

Prad =

1
Rrad |I|2
2

(17.2.3)

2
k2 l2
=
6
3

 2
l

Fz ()=



2I cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

I sin k(l/2 |z |) ejkz cos dz =
k
sin2

Inserting Fz () into Eq. (17.1.7), and canceling some common factors, we obtain:

U()=

(17.2.4)

where we replaced k = 2/. Because we assumed an innitesimally small antenna,

l  , the radiation resistance will be very small.
A related antenna example is the nite Hertzian, or uniform line element, which has
a constant current I owing along its entire length l, that is, I(z)= I, for l/2 z l/2.
We can write I(z) more formally with the help of the unit-step function u(z) as follows:

I(z)= I [u(z + l/2)u(z l/2)]

du(z)
u(z + l/2)u(z l/2)
Il
= Il(z)
I(z)= Il
l
dz

It follows that the normalized power gain g() will have a similar form:

17.3 Standing-Wave Antennas

A very practical antenna is the center-fed standing-wave antenna, and in particular, the
half-wave dipole whose length is l = /2. The current distribution along the antenna
length is assumed to be a standing wave, much like the case of an open-ended parallel
wire transmission line. Indeed, as suggested by the gure below, the center-fed dipole
may be thought of as an open-ended transmission line whose ends have been bent up
and down. The current distribution is:


I(z)= Ik

l
2


|z| ,

l
2

(17.3.3)

l
2

Iin = I(0)= I sin(kl/2)= I sin kh

(17.3.1)

(17.3.4)

The radiation resistance may be dened either in terms of the peak current or in
terms of the input current through the denitions:
1
1
Rpeak |I|2 = Rin |Iin |2
2
2

Rin =

Rpeak
sin2 kh

(17.3.5)

When l is a half-multiple of , the input and peak currents are equal and the two denitions of the radiation resistance are the same. But when l is a multiple of , Eq. (17.3.4)
gives zero for the input current, which would imply an innite input resistance Rin . In
practice, the current distribution is only approximately sinusoidal and the input current
is not exactly zero.
The input impedance of an antenna has in general both a resistive part Rin and a
reactive part Xin , so that Zin = Rin + jXin . The relevant theory is discussed in Sec. 23.3.
Assuming a sinusoidal current, Zin can be computed by Eq. (23.3.10), implemented by
the MATLAB function imped:
Zin = imped(l,a);

(standing-wave antenna)

(normalized gain)

where cn is a normalization constant chosen to make the maximum of g() equal to

unity. Depending on the value of l, this maximum may not occur at = /2.
In the limit l 0, we obtain the gain of the Hertzian dipole, g()= sin2 . For small
values of l, we obtain the linear-current case. Indeed, using the approximation sin x  x,
the current (17.3.1) becomes:

Prad =

and we must assume, of course, that the product Il remains nite in that limit.


I(z)= I sin k(l/2 |z|)

(17.3.2)

For a general dipole of length l, the current at the input terminals of the antenna is
not necessarily equal to the peak amplitude I. Indeed, setting z = 0 in (17.3.1) we have:

The Hertzian dipole may be thought of as the limiting case of this example in the limit
l 0. Indeed, multiplying and dividing by l, and using the property that the derivative
of the unit-step is u (z)= (z), we have


2

|I|2 
 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 


2
8
sin



 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 2

g()= cn 


sin

Comparing the two expressions for Prad , we nd:

Rrad =

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

Dening the half-length h = l/2, the radiation vector z-component Fz () is:

The total radiated power is then found from Eq. (16.2.17):

Prad = Umax =

780

% input impedance of standing-wave antenna

where l, a are the length and radius of the antenna in units of . For example, a half-wave
dipole (l = /2) with zero radius has Zin = imped(0.5, 0)= 73.1 + j 42.5 .
For l
a, the input resistance remains largely independent of the radius a. The
reactance has a stronger dependence on a. Fig. 17.3.1 shows a plot of Rin and Xin versus

17.3. Standing-Wave Antennas

781
Reactance

Resistance
250

782

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

the above integral can be expressed as a sum of two integrals of the form:

800

600
200

150

X, ohm

R, ohm

400

100

which is derived in Appendix F. This leads to the integral:

200



200

400

a=0
a = 0.0005
a = 0.005

50
600
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

l/

0.7

800
0.3

0.4

0.5

l/

0.6

2

cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

sin

Cin (kl)+
0.7

Fig. 17.3.1 Input impedance of standing-wave dipole antenna.

the antenna length l plotted over the interval 0.3 l 0.7, for the three choices of
the radius: a = 0, a = 0.0005, and a = 0.005.
We observe that the reactance Xin vanishes for lengths that are a little shorter than
l = /2. Such antennas are called resonant antennas in analogy with a resonant RLC
circuit whose input impedance Z = R + j(L 1/C) has a vanishing reactance at its

resonant frequency = 1/ LC.

For the three choices of the radius a, we nd the following resonant lengths and
corresponding input resistances:

l = 0.4857,
l = 0.4801,
l = 0.4681,

Rin = 67.2
Rin = 65.0
Rin = 60.5

An analytical expression for the peak and input radiation resistances can be obtained
by integrating the radiation intensity (17.3.2) over all solid angles to get the total radiated
power:


Prad =
=

  2
U() d =
2

|I|
4

 
0


U()sin d d = 2

cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

sin

U()sin d
0

2
d

Rpeak =

 
0

2

cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

sin

Using the trigonometric identity,

cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

1
cos kl 2Cin (kl)Cin (2kl) + sin kl Si (2kl)2Si (kl)
2
2

2




1
cos(2kh cos ) cos(2kh) 2 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) cos kh
2

(17.3.6)

1
Cin (kl)+ cos kl 2Cin (kl)Cin (2kl) + sin kl Si (2kl)2Si (kl)
2
2
2

(17.3.7)
which agrees with Eq. (23.3.21) derived by a different method. The radiation resistance
Rpeak also determines the directivity of the dipole antenna. Using (17.3.3) for the normalized gain, we nd the beam solid angle:

 

  2
=

g() d = 2cn

cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)

sin

2
d = 2cn

2Rpeak

which leads to the directivity-impedance relationship:

Dmax =

4
1

cn Rpeak

(17.3.8)

The normalization constant cn is equal to unity for a half-wave dipole; for other
antenna lengths, it may be computed numerically.
The MATLAB function dipdir calculates cn , the directivity Dmax , the angle max at
which the directivity is maximum (the angle 180 max also corresponds to Dmax ), and
the radiation resistance Rpeak . It has usage:
[Rpeak,Dmax,thmax,cn] = dipdir(L)

% standing-wave dipole of length L

The radiation resistance is computed from Eq. (17.3.7) with the help of the sine and
cosine integral functions Si (x) and Cin (x), and Dmax is computed from (17.3.8).
The table below shows some representative values, with the corresponding angular
patterns shown in Fig. 17.4.2.

l/

Comparing with (17.3.5), we obtain the peak resistance:

d =

and to the radiation resistance:

Rpeak =

a = 0,
a = 0.0005,
a = 0.005,

cos( cos ) cos

d = Si (2)sin Cin (2)cos
sin

0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50

Rpeak ()
73.08
185.68
198.95
106.46
105.42
229.94
259.45
143.48
120.68

Dmax
1.64
1.88
2.41
3.28
2.23
2.37
2.53
3.07
3.06

Dmax (dB)
2.15
2.75
3.82
5.16
3.48
3.75
4.03
4.87
4.86

max

cn

90.00o
90.00o
90.00o
90.00o
42.57o
50.94o
57.42o
62.28o
32.22o

1.0000
0.3431
0.2500
0.3431
0.5109
0.2200
0.1828
0.2723
0.3249

17.4. Half-Wave Dipole

783

17.4 Half-Wave Dipole

The half-wave dipole corresponding to l = /2, or kl = , is one of the most common
antennas. In this case, the current distribution along the antenna takes the form:

I(z)= I cos(kz)

(half-wave dipole)

(17.4.1)

784

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

N = 200;
% divide [0,pi] in N angle bins
dth = pi / N;
% bin width
th = (1:N-1) * dth;
% excludes th=0
g = ((cos(pi*L*cos(th)) - cos(pi*L)) ./ sin(th)).^2;
% N equally-spaced angles in [0,pi)
th = [0, th];
g = [0, g];
% avoids division by 0
cn = 1 / max(g);
g = cn * g;
% normalized to unity maximum
Om = 2 * pi * sum(g .* sin(th)) * dth;
% beam solid angle

where the beam solid angle is computed by the approximation to the integral:

with /4 z /4. The normalized gain is:

g()=

cos2 (0.5 cos )

= 2
(half-wave dipole gain)

sin2

(17.4.2)

Note that the maximum does occur at = /2 and the normalization constant is
cn = 1. Fig. 17.4.1 shows the gain in absolute and dB units. The 3-dB or half-power
circle intersects the gain at an angle of 3dB = 50.96o , which leads to a half-power beam
width of HPBW = 180o 23dB = 78.08o , that is, somewhat narrower than the Hertzian
dipole.
Halfwave dipole

Gain in dB

0o

0o

45o

N
1

g(i )sin i

i=0

where = /N and i = i, i = 0, 1, . . . , N 1. These operations are carried out

by the functions dipole and dmax. For example, the right graph in Fig. 17.4.1 and Dmax
and were generated by the MATLAB code:
[g, th, c] = dipole(0.5, 200);
dbp(th, g, 45, 12);
[D, Omega] = dmax(th, g);

Gauss-Legendre quadrature integration also produces accurate results. For example, assuming the normalization constant cn is known, the following code fragment
integrates the gain function (17.3.3) to compute the beam solid angle:

45o

45o

g()sin d  2

45o

G = inline((cos(pi*L*cos(th)) - cos(pi*L)).^2./sin(th).^2, L,th);

[w,th] = quadrs([0,pi/2,pi],32);
DOm = cn * 2*pi* w*(G(L,th).*sin(th));
0.5

90o

90o

90o

135o

135o

% use 32 points in the subintervals [0, /2] and [/2, ]

% nd = 7.6581 for L = 0.5

90o

135o

135o

180o

6 3
dB

Fig. 17.4.2 shows the gains of a variety of dipoles of different lengths. The corresponding directivities are indicated on each plot.

17.5 Monopole Antennas

180o

Fig. 17.4.1 Gain of half-wave dipole in absolute and dB units.

Because sin(kl/2)= 1, sin(kl)= 0, and cos(kl)= 1, Eq. (17.3.7) reduces to:

Rin = Rpeak =

Cin (2kl)=

Cin (2)= 73.0790 ohm

The directivity is found from (17.3.8) with cn = 1:

Dmax =

= 1.64 2.15 dB
Rpeak

In practice, the value Rin = 73 ohm can be matched easily to the characteristic
impedance of the feed line. For arbitrary values of the length l, the following example
MATLAB code used to calculate the gain function g(), as well as the constant cn and
the beam solid angle, is as follows:

A monopole antenna is half of a dipole antenna placed on top of a ground plane, as

shown in Fig. 17.5.1. Assuming the plane is innite and perfectly conducting, the
monopole antenna will be equivalent to a dipole whose lower half is the image of the
upper half.
Thus, the radiation pattern (in the upper hemisphere) will be identical to that of a
dipole. Because the elds are radiated only in the upper hemisphere, the total radiated
power will be half that of a dipole, and hence the corresponding radiation resistance
will also be halved:

Pmonopole =

1
Pdipole ,
2

Rmonopole =

1
Rdipole
2

Similarly, the directivity doubles because the isotropic radiation intensity in the denominator of Eq. (16.2.2) becomes half its dipole value:

Dmonopole = 2Ddipole

17.5. Monopole Antennas

785

l = 0.50, D = 2.15 dB

l = 0.75, D = 2.75 dB

90o

6
dB

90o

6
dB

90o

45o

90o

135o

135o

45

45

90o

135o

135o

45

45

6
dB

180

180

l = 1.50, D = 3.48 dB

l = 1.75, D = 3.75 dB

6
dB

90

90

I(z)= Iejkz ,

45

45

ejkz + ejkz

45

45

l = 2.50, D = 4.86 dB

I(z)= I cos(kz)=

The backward-moving component may be eliminated by terminating the linear antenna at an appropriate matched load resistance, as shown in Fig. 17.6.1. The resulting
antenna is called a traveling-wave antenna or a Beverage antenna. The current along its
length has the form:

135

I

90

180

45

l = 2.25, D = 4.87 dB

6
dB

135

The standing-wave antenna current may be thought of as the linear superposition of a

forward and a backward moving current. For example, the half-wave dipole current can
be written in the form:

45

180

l = 2.00, D = 4.03 dB
o

90

135

135

180

17.6 Traveling-Wave Antennas

45

135

6
dB

0o

45

90

135

45

45

90

45

0o

Fig. 17.5.1 Quarter-wave monopole above ground plane and the equivalent half-wave dipole.

180

0o

90o

135o

135o

l = 1.25, D = 5.16 dB

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

l = 1.00, D = 3.82 dB

45

786

45

0zl

(17.6.1)

The corresponding radiation vector becomes:

9

90

6
dB

135o

135

180

90

90

6
dB

135o

135

180

90

90

6
dB

135o

135

l

90

F=
z

F ()= Fz ()sin =

Fig. 17.4.2 Standing-wave dipole antenna patterns and directivities.

The quarter-wave monopole antenna whose length is /4 is perhaps the most widely
used antenna. For AM transmitting antennas operating in the 300 m or 1 MHz band, the
antenna height will be large, /4 = 75 m, requiring special supporting cables.
In mobile applications in the 30 cm or 1 GHz band, the antenna length will be fairly
small, /4 = 7.5 cm. The roof of a car plays the role of the conducting plane in this
case.
We note also in Fig. 17.4.2 that the l = 1.25 = 10/8 dipole has the largest gain. It
can be used as a monopole in mobile applications requiring higher gains. Such antennas
are called 5/8-wave monopoles because their length is l/2 = 5/8.

I 1 ejkl(1cos )
jk
1 cos

(17.6.2)

The transverse -component is:

180

Iejkz ejk cos z dz =

z

I
1 e2jL(1cos )
I
F()
sin
jk
1 cos
jk

(17.6.3)

where as before, L = l/ and kl = 2l/ = 2L. The radiation intensity, given by

Eq. (16.1.4) or (17.1.7), becomes now:

U()=

|I|2
|I|2
|F()|2 =
2
32
82



 sin sinL(1 cos ) 2






1 cos

Fig. 17.6.1 Traveling-wave antenna with matched termination.

(17.6.4)

17.6. Traveling-Wave Antennas

787

788

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

Therefore, the normalized power gain will be:



 sin sinL(1 cos ) 2



g()= cn 


1 cos

(17.6.5)

where cn is a normalization constant. Fig. 17.6.2 shows the power gains and directivities
for the cases l = 5 and l = 10, or L = 5 and L = 10.
L = 5, D = 10.7 dB, 0 = 22.2o

0o

45o

6 3
dB

90o

135
o

180

where is the wavenumber along the guiding structure and p = /k = c/vphase is

the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the phase velocity along the guide. The
corresponding radiation power pattern will now have the form:

45o

90o

135o

0o

45o

45o

90o

Fig. 17.6.3 Surface-wave and leaky-wave antennas.

L = 10, D = 13.1 dB, 0 = 15.7o

6 3
dB



 sin sinL(p cos ) 2




g()= cn


p cos

90o

For long lengths L (and for p < 1), it peaks along the direction 0 = arccos(p).
Note that p can take the values: (a) p > 1 (slow waves), as in the case of the corrugated
plane structure or the case of a Beverage antenna wrapped
in a dielectric, (b) p < 1 (fast

135o

(17.6.8)

135

waves), as in the case of the leaky waveguide, where p =

for the Beverage antenna.

180

1 2c /2 , and (c) p = 1,

Fig. 17.6.2 Traveling-wave antenna gain examples.

The MATLAB function traveling calculates the gain (17.6.5). For example, the left
graph in Fig. 17.6.2 was generated by the MATLAB code:

17.7 Vee and Rhombic Antennas

A vee antenna consists of two traveling-wave antennas forming an angle 2 with each
other, as shown in Fig. 17.7.1. It may be constructed by opening up the matched ends
of a transmission line at an angle of 2 (each of the terminating resistances is RL /2 for
a total of RL .)

[g, th, c, th0] = traveling(5, 400);

dbp(th, g, 45, 12);
addray(90-th0,-); addray(90+th0,-);

The longer the length l, the more the main lobes tilt towards the traveling direction
of the antenna. The main lobes occur approximately at the polar angle (in radians) [57]:





0.371
0.371
0 = arccos 1
= arccos 1
l
L

(17.6.6)

For the two examples of Fig. 17.6.2, this expression gives for L = 5 and L = 10,
0 = 22.2o and 0 = 15.7o . As L increases, the angle 0 tends to zero.
There are other antenna structures that act as traveling-wave antennas, as shown
in Fig. 17.6.3. For example, a waveguide with a long slit along its length will radiate
continuously along the slit. Another example is a corrugated conducting surface along
which a surface wave travels and gets radiated when it reaches the discontinuity at the
end of the structure.
In all of these examples, the radiation pattern has an angular dependence similar to
that of a linear antenna with a traveling-wave current of the form:

I(z)= Iejz = Iejpkz ,

0zl

(17.6.7)

Fig. 17.7.1 Traveling-wave vee antenna with l = 5, 0 = 22.2o , and = 0.850 = 18.9o .

By choosing the angle to be approximately equal to the main lobe angle 0 of

Eq. (17.6.6), the two inner main lobes align with each other along the middle direction
and produce a stronger main lobe, thus increasing the directivity of the antenna. The
outer main lobes will also be present, but smaller.
The optimum angle of the arms of the vee depends on the length l and is related
to main lobe angle 0 via = a0 , where the factor a typically falls in the range

17.7. Vee and Rhombic Antennas

789

790

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

a = 0.801.00. Figure 17.7.2 shows the optimum angle factor a that corresponds to
maximum directivity (in the plane of the vee) as a function of the length l.
Optimum Angle Factor
1

0.95

0.9

Fig. 17.7.4 Radiation vectors of traveling-wave vee antenna.

0.85

Applying the result of Eq. (17.6.2), the radiation vectors of the two arms will be:

0.8

l

0.75
0

2.5

7.5

10

12.5

15

17.5

F1 =

20

l/

z1
0

l
F2 =
z2

Fig. 17.7.2 Optimum angle factor as a function of antenna length.

Figure 17.7.3 shows the actual power patterns for the cases l = 5 and l = 10. The
main lobe angles were 0 = 22.2o and 0 = 15.7o . The optimum vee angles were found
to be approximately (see Fig. 17.7.2), = 0.850 = 18.9o and = 0.950 = 14.9o , in
the two cases.
L = 5, = 18.9o

0o

45o

45o

45o

I 1 ejkl(1cos 1 )
jk
1 cos 1

Iejkz2 ejk cos 2 z2 dz2 =

z2

I 1 ejkl(1cos 2 )
jk
1 cos 2

Therefore, the -components will be as in Eq. (17.6.3):

F1 =

I
F(1 ) ,
jk

F2 =

I
F(2 )
jk

where the function F() was dened in Eq. (17.6.3). From Fig. 17.7.4, we may express
1 , 2 in terms of the polar angle with respect to the z-axis as:

L = 10, = 14.9o
0o

z1

Iejkz1 ejk cos 1 z1 dz1 =

1 = ,

45o

2 = +

Adding the -components, we obtain the resultant:

9

90o

6 3
dB

90o

90o

6 3
dB

90o

F = F1 + F2 =

I
I
F(2 )F(1 ) =
F( + )F( )
jk
jk

Thus, the radiation intensity will be:

135o

135o

135o

135o

180o

180o

U()=

k2
322

|F ()|2 =

|I|2 


322

2
F( + )F( )

and the normalized power pattern:

Fig. 17.7.3 Traveling-wave vee antenna gains in dB.

The combined radiation pattern can be obtained with the help of Fig. 17.7.4. Let

z1 and
z2 be the two unit vectors along the two arms of the vee, and let 1 , 2 be the
two polar angles of the observation point P with respect to the directions
z1 ,
z2 . The
assumed currents along the two arms have opposite amplitudes and are:

I1 (z1 )= Iejkz1 ,

I2 (z2 )= Iejkz2 ,

for

0 z1 , z2 l


2
g()= cn F( + )F( )

(17.7.1)

This is the gain plotted in Fig. 17.7.3 and can be computed by the MATLAB function
vee. Finally, we consider briey a rhombic antenna made up of two concatenated vee
antennas, as shown in Fig. 17.7.5. Now the two inner main lobes of the rst vee (lobes
a, b) and the two outer lobes of the second vee (lobes c, d) align with each other, thus
increasing the directivity of the antenna system.
The radiation vectors F3 and F4 of arms 3 and 4 may be obtained by noting that
these arms are the translations of arms 1 and 2, and therefore, the radiation vectors are
changed by the appropriate translational phase shift factors, as discussed in Sec. 20.2.

17.8. Loop Antennas

791

792

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

L = 5, = 22.2o

L = 10, = 15.7o

45o

6 3
dB

45o

45o

90o

0o

90o

45o

90o

6 3
dB

90o

Fig. 17.7.5 Traveling-wave rhombic antenna.

o

135o

Arm-3 is the translation of arm-1 by the vector d2 = l

z2 and arm-4 is the translation
of arm-2 by the vector d1 = l
z1 . Thus, the corresponding radiation vectors will be:
F3 = ejkd2 F1 ,

F4 = ejkd1 F2

180o

180

Fig. 17.7.6 Rhombic antenna gains in dB.

For such small loops, the radiation pattern turns out to be independent of the shape
of the loop and the radiation vector takes the simple form:

ejkd1 = ejklrz1 = ejkl cos 1

It follows that the -components of F3 and F4 are:

F3 = ejkl cos 2 F1 =

I jkl cos 2
e
F(1 )
jk

F4 = ejkl cos 1 F2 =

135

(17.7.2)

where the negative signs arise because the currents in those arms have opposite signs
with their parallel counterparts. The phase shift factors are:

ejkd2 = ejklrz2 = ejkl cos 2 ,

135o

135

I jkl cos 1
e
F(2 )
jk

F = jmk

where m is the loops magnetic moment dened with respect to Fig. 17.8.1 as follows:
m=
z IS ,

(magnetic moment)

F ()

F = j m k = jmk sin

I
F(2 )F(1 )+ejkl cos 2 F(1 )ejkl cos 1 F(2 )
jk

The corresponding normalized power pattern will be:


2
g()= cn F( + )F( )+ejkl cos(+) F( )ejkl cos() F( + )
Figure 17.7.6 shows the power gain g() for the cases L = 5 and L = 10. The
optimum vee angle in both cases was found to be = 0 , that is, = 22.2o and
= 15.7o . The function rhombic may be used to evaluate this expression.

17.8 Loop Antennas

Figure 17.8.1 shows a circular and a square loop antenna. The feed points are not
shown. The main oversimplifying assumption here is that the current is constant around
the loop. We will mainly consider the case when the dimension of the loop (e.g., its
circumference) is small relative to the wavelength.

(17.8.2)

sin , we have:
where S is the area of the loop. Writing k = k
r and noting that
z
r=

Thus, the resultant -component will be:

F = F1 + F2 + F3 + F4 =

(17.8.1)

Fig. 17.8.1 Circular and square loop antennas.

(17.8.3)

17.9. Circular Loops

793

Thus, F is fully transverse to

r, so that F = F. It follows from Eq. (15.10.4) that the
produced radiation elds will be:
E = jk
E=

jkr

4r

= mk2 sin
F

jkr

4r

Using Eq. (15.8.2), we have:



sin )(z
)
z cos +
z + 
k r = k(


)
= kz cos + k sin (
(17.8.4)

= kz cos + k sin cos( )



= cos( ), as seen in Fig. 17.8.1. The integration in Eq. (17.9.1)

where we set

connes r to the xy-plane and sets  = a and z = 0. Thus, we have in the integrand:

The radiation intensity of Eq. (16.1.4) is in this case:

k2
k4 |m|2
|F |2 =
sin2
2
32
322

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

jkr
jkr
H = jk e
= mk2 sin e

F
H=

4r
4r

U(, )=

794

(loop intensity)

k r = ka sin cos( )

(17.8.5)

Then, the radiation vector (17.9.1) becomes:

Thus, it has the same sin2 angular dependence, normalized power gain, and directivity as the Hertzian dipole. We may call such small loop antennas Hertzian loops,
referring to their innitesimal size. The total radiated power can be computed as in
Sec. 17.2. We have:

Prad

k4 |m|2 8
k4 |m|2
= Umax =
=
2
32
3
12

Replacing m by IS, we may obtain the loops radiation resistance from the denition:

Prad

1
k4 |IS|2
= Rrad |I|2 =
2
12

Rrad

k4 S2
=
6

dipole
loop

=j

Il
mk

If we choose Il = mk, then the electric elds are off by a 90 -degree phase. If
such a Hertzian dipole and loop are placed at the origin, the produced net electric eld
will be circularly polarized. We note nally that the loop may have several turns, thus
increasing its radiation resistance and radiated power. For a loop with n turns, we must
make the replacement m nm.

Next, we consider the circular loop in more detail, and derive Eq. (17.8.3). Assuming an
innitely thin wire loop of radius a, the assumed current density can be expressed in
cylindrical coordinates as in Eq. (17.1.3):
 ( a)(z )
J(r )= I
The radiation vector will be:
F=

jkr

J(r )e
V

3 

(17.9.2)

 varies in direction with  . Therefore, it

We note in Fig. 17.8.1 that the unit vector
,
of the xed observation
proves convenient to express it in terms of the unit vectors


, we have:
point P. Resolving into the directions ,


=
cos( )
sin( )

 2
F = Ia

cos
sin )ejka sin cos d
(

F = Ia

 2

cos ejka sin cos d

(17.9.3)

Using the integral representation of the Bessel function J1 (x),

J1 (x)=

 2

1
2j

cos ejx cos d

we may replace the -integral by 2jJ1 (ka sin ) and write Eq. (17.9.3) as:

17.9 Circular Loops

The second term is odd in and vanishes. Thus,

ejka sin cos( ) d

Changing integration variables from  to =  , we write Eq. (17.9.2) as:

Comparing Eq. (17.8.4) to the Hertzian dipole, the loops electric eld is in the direction, whereas the Hertzian dipoles is in the -direction. The relative amplitudes
of the electric elds are:

 2
F = Ia

d r =

 ejkr ( a)(z ) d d dz

I

= 2j Ia J1 (ka sin )

F = F

This gives the radiation vector for any loop radius. If the loop is electrically small,
that is, ka  1, we may use the rst-order approximation J1 (x) x/2, to get
= 2j Ia
F = F

1
= jIa2 k sin

ka sin
2

which agrees with Eq. (17.8.3), with m = IS = Ia2 .

(17.9.1)

(17.9.4)

(17.9.5)

17.10. Square Loops

795

796

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

17.10 Square Loops

17.11 Dipole and Quadrupole Radiation

The square loop of Fig. 17.8.1 may be thought of as four separate linear antennas representing the four sides. Assuming that each side is a Hertzian dipole and that the sides
are at distances l/2 from the origin, we can write the current densities of the sides
1, 2, 3, 4 as follows:
Il (x l/2)(y)(z)
J1 (r) = y

The radiation vector F of a current/charge distribution can be evaluated approximately


by expanding the exponential ejkr to successive powers of k :


F=

Il (x + l/2)(y)(z)
J3 (r) = y
Il (x)(y + l/2)(z)
x


(x + l/2)(x l/2)
(y)(z)
l

where we multiplied and divided by a factor of l. In the limit of small l, we may replace
the quantity in the bracket by the derivative  (x) of the delta function (x):
 (x)(y)(z)
J1 (r)+J3 (r)= Il2 y
Similarly, we nd for sides 2 and 4:




F = Il2

Dij =

(x ) (y )y
 (x )(y ) (z )ej(kx x +ky y
x

 +k

zz

)

1 + j k r +

1
(jk r )2 + J(r )d3 r
2!

j(k r )J(r )d3 r +




(17.11.1)

r (r ) d3 r

(electric dipole moment)

(17.11.2)

ri rj (r ) d3 r

(electric quadrupole moment)

(17.11.3)


Thus, the net current density of all sides is:

The corresponding radiation vector will be:

magn. dipole & elec. quadrupole


p=

(17.10.1)

The rst term is the electric dipole radiation term and corresponds to the Hertzian
dipole antenna. The second term incorporates both the magnetic dipole (corresponding
to a Hertzian loop antenna) and the electric quadrupole terms.
Higher multipoles arise from the higher-order terms in the above expansion. A systematic discussion of all multipole radiation terms requires the use of spherical harmonics.
Keeping only a few terms in the above expansion is a good approximation to F provided kr   1, or l  , where l is the typical dimension of the current source. In
general, any radiating system will emit radiation of various multipole types.
The electric dipole and electric quadrupole moments of a charge distribution are dened in terms of the following rst- and second-order moments of the charge density:

(x) (y)(z)
J2 (r)+J4 (r)= Il2 x

(x) (y)y
 (x)(y) (z)
J(r)= Il2 x

J(r )d3 r +

elec. dipole

The currents on the parallel sides 1 and 3 combine to give:

J1 (r)+J3 (r)= Il2 y


=

Il (x)(y l/2)(z)
J2 (r) = x

J4 (r) =

J(r )ejkr d3 r =

The identity of Problem 15.2 is useful here in manipulating the successive expansion
terms of F. Applying the identity with the two choices: g(r )= ri and g(r )= ri rj , we
obtain the relationships:

dx dy dz



The delta-function integrations can be done easily yielding:

+ jkx y
)
F = Il2 (jky x

Ji d3 r = j

(ri Jj + rj Ji ) d3 r = j


V

ri (r ) d3 r = jpi

(17.11.4)

ri rj (r ) d3 r = jDij

Thus, the lowest-order term in Eq. (17.11.1) is the electric dipole:

Using Eq. (17.1.4), we obtain

sin + y
cos )= jIl2 k sin
F = jIl2 k sin (x
which agrees with Eq. (17.8.3), with m = IS = Il2 .

(17.10.2)

J(r ) d3 r = j p = Fel

In the second term of Eq. (17.11.1), we may apply the vectorial identity:

(k r )J =

1 
1
(r J)k +
(k r )J + (k J)r ]
2
2

and in integrated form:


V

(k r )J d3 r =

1
2


V

(r J)k d3 r +

1
2


V

(k r )J + (k J)r ] d3 r

(17.11.5)

17.11. Dipole and Quadrupole Radiation

797

m=

1
2

r J(r ) d3 r

(magnetic moment)

j(k r )J d3 r = j m k

1
Dk = Fmag + Fquad
2

(17.11.7)

Thus, the three lowest-order terms of F are:

F = Fel + Fmag + Fquad = j p + j m k

1
Dk
2

(17.11.8)

We briey discuss each term. For a Hertzian dipole antenna with J(r )=
z Il 3 (r ),
only the rst term of (17.11.8) is non-zero and is the same as that of Sec. 17.2:


Fel =

J(r ) d3 r =
z Il = j p

The relationship Il = jp may be understood by thinking of the Hertzian dipole as

two opposite time-varying charges q separated by a distance l (along the z-direction),
= ql
= Il.
so that p = ql. It follows that jp = p
The result p = ql may also be applied to the case of an accelerated charge. Now q is
= q
= qv
= qa, where a is the
constant but l varies with time. We have p
l = qv and p
. For harmonic time dependence, we have (j)2 p = qa. The total
acceleration a = v
radiated power from a dipole was obtained in Eq. (17.2.2). Setting k2 |Il|2 = k2 |qv|2 =
q2 2 |v|2 /c2 = q2 |a|2 /c2 , we can rewrite Eq. (17.2.2) in the form:

q2 a2rms
q2 |a|2
P=
=
12c2
6c2

where arms = |a|/ 2 is the rms value of the acceleration. This is Larmors classical
expression for the radiated power from a nonrelativistic accelerated charge.
For a Hertzian loop, only the magnetic moment term is present in F. We may verify
the result that m =
z IS using the denition (17.11.6). Indeed, for a circular loop:
m=

1
2

 ( a)(z )  d d dz
r I

.
The integrations over z and  force z = 0 and  = a, and therefore, r = a



=

Noting that
z and that the -integration contributes a factor of 2, we obtain:
m=

1
 Ia 2 =

z I(a2 )
a
2

Similarly, inserting Eq. (17.10.1) into (17.11.6), we nd for the square loop:
m=

1
2

(17.11.6)

Therefore, the rst term in Eq. (17.11.5) may be written as m k. With the help of
the second identity of Eq. (17.11.4), the last term of (17.11.5) may be written in terms of
the quadrupole matrix D acting on the vector k. We have then for the second term in
the expansion (17.11.1):

17. Linear and Loop Antennas

For the electric quadrupole term, the matrix D is sometimes replaced by its traceless
version dened by

The magnetic moment of a current distribution is dened in general by

798




+yy
+ z
(x) (y)y
 (x)(y) (z) dx dy dz =
z) Il2 x
z Il2
(x x

Qij = 3Dij ij tr(D)=

3ri rj ij r r (r ) d3 r

Q = 3D I tr(D)

so that tr(Q)= 0. In this case, the vector Dk may be expressed as

Dk =

1
1
Q k + tr(D) k
3
3

The second term may be ignored because it does not contribute to the radiation
elds, which depend only on the part of F transverse to k. Thus, without loss of generality we may also write:
1
F = j p + j m k Q k
6
The electric and magnetic dipoles have angular gain patterns that are identical to
the Hertzian dipole and Hertzian loop antennas, that is, sin2 . The quadrupole term,
on the other hand, can have a complicated angular pattern as can be seen by expressing
the vector Q k = kQ
r explicitly in terms of the angles , :

Qxx

Q
r = Qyx
Qzx

Qxy
Qyy
Qzy

Qxz
sin cos

Qyz sin sin

Qzz
cos

17.12 Problems
17.1 Computer ExperimentDipoles. Reproduce the results and graphs of Fig. 17.4.2, and calculate the corresponding directivities in dB.
17.2 Derive Eq. (17.3.7) for the input resistance of a dipole antenna.
17.3 Derive Eq. (17.6.6) for the tilt angle of a traveling wave antenna by reducing the problem to
that of nding the maximum of the function sin2 (x)/x in the interval [0, 1].
17.4 Computer ExperimentTraveling Wave Antennas. Reproduce the results and graphs of Fig. 17.6.2.